The Social Security Administration recognizes hundreds of medical conditions as qualifying for disability benefits, from major depression and PTSD to spinal disorders, heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune illness. What matters is not the name of your diagnosis. It is how the condition limits your ability to work full-time.
We are Keener Law, a Georgia-based disability firm serving claimants in Marietta, Cobb County, and every county across the state. Our team focuses on Social Security Disability at every stage of the claim: initial applications, reconsideration appeals, and hearings before Administrative Law Judges. If you are unsure whether your condition qualifies, request a free consultation or call (770) 955-3000.
This page walks through the SSA Blue Book categories, explains what happens when your condition isn’t listed, and covers what Georgia claimants should know about the local process in Cobb County and the Atlanta hearing office.
The Social Security Administration decides who qualifies for disability using a five-step evaluation and a medical guide called the Blue Book. To be found disabled, you have to prove you have a medically determinable impairment expected to last 12 months or result in death, and that the impairment prevents you from performing Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). In 2026, SGA was set at $1,690 per month for non-blind claimants and $2,830 per month for blind claimants.
Here is what the five-step sequential evaluation looks like in practice:
SSDI also requires enough work credits. Most adults need 40 credits, 20 of which were earned in the last ten years. In 2026, one credit was earned for every $1,890 in wages, up to four credits per year. SSI has no work-credit requirement but applies strict income and asset limits.
Most approved claimants don’t meet a Blue Book listing exactly. They win through a medical-vocational allowance, which is the SSA’s way of finding a person disabled when their limitations, when combined with age, education, and past work, rule out any full-time job. Understanding which path fits your case is one of the most useful pieces of guidance a representative provides early on. We cover both routes throughout this page.
The SSA Blue Book divides qualifying conditions into 14 body-system categories, each with its own listing criteria. The book is officially titled “Listing of Impairments,” and it applies to adults in Part A and children in Part B. If your condition matches one of the listings and meets every criterion the SSA specifies, you are found disabled at step three of the evaluation.
Body System | Blue Book Section | Common Conditions | Learn More |
Musculoskeletal | 1.00 | Back pain, arthritis, spinal disorders, joint disease | Back pain, arthritis |
Special Senses and Speech | 2.00 | Vision loss, hearing loss, vertigo | Free consultation |
Respiratory | 3.00 | COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis | COPD |
Cardiovascular | 4.00 | Heart failure, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias | Heart disease |
Digestive | 5.00 | Crohn’s disease, liver disease, IBD | Ask our team |
Genitourinary | 6.00 | Chronic kidney disease, nephrotic syndrome | Ask our team |
Hematological | 7.00 | Sickle cell disease, hemolytic anemia | Ask our team |
Skin | 8.00 | Chronic skin infections, ichthyosis, burns | Ask our team |
Endocrine | 9.00 | Diabetes complications, thyroid and adrenal disorders | Diabetes |
Congenital (multiple systems) | 10.00 | Down syndrome, non-mosaic Down syndrome | |
Neurological | 11.00 | Epilepsy, MS, Parkinson’s, TBI, stroke effects | |
Mental Disorders | 12.00 | Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar, schizophrenia | Depression and anxiety, PTSD |
Cancers | 13.00 | Various cancers (many are Compassionate Allowances) | Cancer |
Immune System | 14.00 | Lupus, HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma | Autoimmune disorders |
Mental health conditions are among the most common approved claims and are covered under Blue Book Section 12.00. This section includes major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disorder, and neurocognitive impairments. What decides approval isn’t the name of the diagnosis but how much the condition affects your daily functioning.
The SSA looks at four functional areas known as the paragraph B criteria: understanding and applying information, interacting with others, concentrating and persisting at tasks, and adapting or managing oneself. A claimant with extreme limitation in one area, or marked limitation in two, meets the criteria for a listing. For conditions of two-year duration with active treatment, the paragraph C criteria offer an alternative path.
Documentation is the deciding factor. Records from a treating psychiatrist or psychologist, therapy notes, hospitalization records, and third-party statements about how the condition looks day-to-day carry more weight than the diagnosis alone. Learn more on our depression and anxiety and PTSD pages.
Musculoskeletal disorders (Blue Book Section 1.00) are the largest single category of approved disability claims. This includes degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, herniated discs, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis (which also falls under Section 14.09 for immune system involvement). The listings require imaging evidence (MRI, CT, or X-ray) combined with documented functional limitations.
Fibromyalgia sits differently. It has no dedicated Blue Book listing because there is no imaging test to confirm it. The SSA evaluates fibromyalgia under SSR 12-2p, which sets out how examiners are supposed to weigh subjective pain complaints against objective medical findings. Most fibromyalgia claims are approved through the medical-vocational allowance route rather than by meeting a listing.
What our team looks for in a musculoskeletal case: consistent complaints in the treatment record, imaging that matches the reported symptoms, physical therapy notes showing functional decline, and RFC-form completion by the treating physician. Explore our back pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia pages for condition-specific detail.
Cardiovascular impairments (Section 4.00) and respiratory impairments (Section 3.00) both involve loss of function in a major organ system, and the SSA evaluates them using objective testing. Heart-related conditions include chronic heart failure with ejection fraction below the listing threshold, ischemic heart disease with documented ischemia on stress testing, and arrhythmias with syncope despite prescribed treatment. Respiratory conditions include COPD with FEV1 values below age-height-adjusted thresholds, chronic asthma with frequent hospitalizations, and cystic fibrosis.
Documentation almost always requires results from objective testing. A stress test with metabolic-equivalent measurements, echocardiogram, pulmonary function test (PFT), or diffusion capacity study is what pushes a listing-level case across the line. In our experience, cardiovascular and respiratory claimants often lose at the initial and reconsideration levels because the file is missing the exact test the SSA needs, then win at hearing once we identify and request the missing study.
Read more on our heart disease and COPD pages.
Cancers are evaluated under Blue Book Section 13.00, organized by primary site: breast, lung, colorectal, prostate, blood cancers, brain, and so on. The listing criteria consider tumor size, spread, recurrence after treatment, and response to therapy. Some cancers qualify automatically at step three when the diagnosis alone meets the listing (for example, inoperable pancreatic cancer or small cell lung cancer).
Compassionate Allowances (CAL) is the SSA’s fast-track program for the most serious conditions. As of the most recent SSA update, more than 280 conditions are on the CAL list, including certain aggressive cancers, ALS, early-onset Alzheimer’s, and pediatric conditions. CAL claims are typically decided in weeks instead of the three-to-five months a standard initial decision takes.
Separate from CAL, the Terminal Illness (TERI) process expedites claims for anyone with a terminal diagnosis or life expectancy under six months. TERI status can be flagged on the SSA-3368 disability report, in the initial hospital records, or by a treating physician’s letter. Explore our cancer page and our page on conditions that automatically qualify for expedited processing.
Three Blue Book categories cover a wide range of chronic illness. Immune system disorders (Section 14.00) include systemic lupus erythematosus, HIV/AIDS with defined complications, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and other connective-tissue diseases. Approval usually turns on the documented involvement of two or more organ systems plus constitutional symptoms like fatigue, fever, or malaise.
Endocrine disorders (Section 9.00) work differently. Diabetes on its own rarely qualifies. Diabetes with complications does: diabetic neuropathy with sustained loss of sensation or motor function, diabetic retinopathy meeting the vision listing, diabetic nephropathy progressing to kidney failure, or repeated hospitalizations for uncontrolled diabetes. The complication is what the SSA evaluates.
Neurological conditions (Section 11.00) include epilepsy with a documented seizure frequency, multiple sclerosis with disorganized motor function or persistent visual disturbance, Parkinson’s disease with tremor or bradykinesia interfering with movement, traumatic brain injury with cognitive or physical residual effects, and post-stroke deficits lasting more than three months. Learn more on our autoimmune disorders and diabetes pages.
The remaining Blue Book categories qualify claimants every year, though they show up less often in our practice than the categories above. Digestive disorders (Section 5.00) include Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic liver disease, and short bowel syndrome. Genitourinary disorders (Section 6.00) cover chronic kidney disease and nephrotic syndrome. Hematological disorders (Section 7.00) include sickle cell disease, hemolytic anemias, and disorders of thrombosis. Skin disorders (Section 8.00) cover ichthyosis, chronic burns with extensive scarring, and severe hidradenitis suppurativa.
If your condition falls in one of these categories, the same principles apply: the treating physician’s records and the objective testing are what carry the file. Ask our team about your specific condition.
You may still qualify for disability benefits even if your exact condition isn’t in the SSA Blue Book. The route is the medical-vocational allowance, and it accounts for the majority of approvals nationwide.
Here is how it works. At step four of the evaluation, the SSA develops your Residual Functional Capacity, or RFC. This is a written assessment of what you retain the ability to do despite your impairments: how much you sit, stand, walk, lift, and carry, and what mental demands you handle. The RFC accounts for the combined effect of every impairment on file, not each condition in isolation. A person with moderate depression, moderate back pain, and moderate diabetes might not meet any single listing, but the combination might rule out full-time work.
At step five, the SSA applies the Medical-Vocational Guidelines (the “Grid Rules”) for claimants who cannot return to past work. Age is a major factor. Claimants aged 50 and older with limited education and no transferable skills face a lower bar. Claimants aged 55 and older face a still lower bar. Younger claimants have to show that their RFC rules out almost all unskilled work in the national economy.
Development of the RFC is where representation makes the biggest difference. Our team routinely asks treating physicians to complete an RFC form (also called a Medical Source Statement) that translates the medical record into the sitting, standing, and lifting terms the SSA uses. Learn more on our RFC assessment page.
Some conditions qualify on an expedited basis through two SSA programs: Compassionate Allowances (CAL) and Terminal Illness (TERI) processing. “Automatic” is a slight misnomer here. The SSA still requires medical evidence and still runs the five-step evaluation. What changes is the processing speed: CAL and TERI claims are prioritized and decided in weeks rather than months. The CAL list includes certain cancers, early-onset Alzheimer’s, ALS, and pediatric conditions.
For a full walkthrough of the CAL list, TERI processing, and the fastest paths to approval, see our dedicated page on conditions that automatically qualify for disability.
Where you file matters. Every disability claim in Georgia is initially processed by Georgia Disability Determination Services (DDS), the state agency that partners with the SSA to make medical decisions on initial applications and reconsideration appeals. Georgia DDS approval rates at the initial and reconsideration levels have historically tracked below the national average. That reality is one reason so many Georgia claims move on to the hearing stage.
Hearings for Marietta and Cobb County claimants are handled by the Atlanta Office of Hearing Operations (OHO). Wait times fluctuate. In recent years, the Atlanta OHO’s average time from hearing request to decision has ranged from 10 to 14 months. If your claim is at hearing level, that wait is often the hardest part of the process. It is also where the highest approval rate happens across the entire SSD system.
Medical evidence is easier to gather in the Marietta area than in many parts of the country. Kennestone Hospital, Wellstar Health System, Emory Healthcare, and Northside Hospital all maintain electronic medical records that release efficiently to the SSA once the SSA-827 authorization is on file. For a Cobb County claimant with treatment across multiple facilities, our team routinely coordinates the record requests to make sure nothing is missed before a hearing.
Local SSA services are handled through the Marietta field office, which processes non-medical parts of your claim (work history, income verification, benefit calculation) and manages SSI eligibility interviews. The Marietta SSA field office is at 200 Chastain Center Blvd., Suite 250, Kennesaw, GA, 30144. It’s open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Most application filings and appeal requests today are handled online or by phone, but the field office remains the point of contact for in-person needs.
Our team represents claimants at every stage of the Social Security Disability process: initial applications, reconsideration appeals, ALJ hearings, and Appeals Council review. Russell Keener leads the firm’s disability practice, and Holly Roberts works alongside him on case development and client support. [VERIFY credentials, bar admission, and current roles for Russell Keener and Holly Roberts]
What we do differently: we build every case around the specific listing or medical-vocational theory that fits it, and we develop the record to match. That includes requesting the RFC forms treating physicians rarely fill out on their own, ordering the objective tests that fill gaps in the file, and preparing every client for the questions they will face at the hearing. Our clients also have access to a secure client portal to check case status without waiting on a phone call.
We work on contingency. There is no upfront fee. Under SSA rules, attorney fees in disability cases are capped at 25% of past-due benefits or $9,200, whichever is less, and they are only paid if you win. If you don’t win, you don’t owe us a fee. To get started, request a free consultation or call (770) 955-3000.
If you have a medical condition that keeps you from working, our team is here to help you figure out whether you qualify and what the next step looks like. We offer free case evaluations, and there is no fee unless we win your claim. We serve claimants in Marietta, Cobb County, and across Georgia.
Call (770) 955-3000 or toll-free at (800) 900-2400, or request a free consultation online. You’ll speak with a member of our team about your condition and the best path forward for your claim.
Disclaimer: This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every disability case is different. For advice about your specific situation, contact a qualified Social Security Disability attorney or representative. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
The SSA Blue Book is the Social Security Administration’s medical guide listing every impairment that qualifies a person for disability benefits. Its official title is “Listing of Impairments.” The book is divided into 14 body-system categories for adults and includes a separate section for childhood impairments.
The most common approved disability conditions are musculoskeletal disorders (including back injuries and arthritis), mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD), and cardiovascular disease. Cancer, neurological disorders, and diabetes with complications also account for a significant share of approvals.
Yes. The SSA is required to consider the combined effect of all your impairments, not each condition in isolation. This is often how claimants qualify when no single condition meets a listing exactly. The combined effect is captured in the Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) assessment.
You still qualify through a medical-vocational allowance. The SSA assesses your Residual Functional Capacity, which is what you retain the ability to do despite your impairments, and determines whether any past work or other work is possible given your age, education, and skills.
Initial decisions in Georgia typically take three to five months. Reconsideration adds another three to five months. A hearing before an Atlanta OHO judge often takes about 8 months from the request date. Compassionate Allowance conditions are decided in weeks.
Yes. Mental health conditions qualify on their own. Blue Book Section 12.00 covers depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and more. Approval focuses on functional limitations across four paragraph B criteria, not on the diagnosis by itself.
Compassionate Allowances (CAL) are conditions the SSA has determined to be so severe that they clearly meet disability standards. More than 280 conditions are currently on the CAL list, including certain aggressive cancers, ALS, and early-onset Alzheimer’s. CAL claims are decided in weeks instead of months.
You are not required to have an attorney to apply, but represented claimants are approved at higher rates, particularly at the hearing stage. Keener Law offers free consultations and works on contingency, which means we only collect a fee if we win your claim.